


Good Enough

by AyuOhseki



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Anxiety, Chara and Frisk Share a Body, Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Houseplant Flowey, POV Alphys, POV Second Person, Post-True Route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-10
Updated: 2016-10-10
Packaged: 2018-08-21 17:23:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8254096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AyuOhseki/pseuds/AyuOhseki
Summary: When Alphys frets about whether she meets her girlfriend's standards or if she can do anything for a certain fallen human and their potted plant pal, Undyne comes in to give her some much-needed perspective.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [feralphoenix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/feralphoenix/gifts).



> Happy birthday to @feralphoenix! It's not very long, but I hope you enjoy it all the same.

You curl your tail between your legs, hold your breath, and squeeze your eyes tight, so when you hit the water, you see nothing--just feel and hear yourself sink down with an enormous SPLASH. Bubbles roil around you as you sink down, down, deeper than you’ve ever gone before. Then you unfold yourself and kick to the surface to suck in a breath. You search for Undyne, and when you spot her nearby, you grin wildly at your (amazingly hot, incredibly strong) girlfriend, who matches your grin tooth for tooth.

“I did it!!” you say excitedly, splashing over to her.

“Hell yeah you did!” Undyne crows, grabbing you and pulling you close. Although the water around the two of you is cool, you already feel warm. “I told you you got the high board nailed! You just went up there and jumped off and SPLOOSH! Water EVERYWHERE! It was awesome!!”

You giggle, feeling yourself blush. You’re wearing a pair of prescription goggles so you can actually see while you swim, but even without them, the pride on Undyne’s face would be clear to you and probably to everyone within a five-mile radius. Maybe it’s just the high diving board at the pool, but you’ve been trying--baby step by baby step--to be a bit more daring than you used to be. Heading to the beach with Undyne for a date last month was a great first step, especially since it made her so happy; you even wore a bathing suit and everything. Of course, you had to unwind indoors for like a week after, but like you said, baby steps.

Today’s the most recent step: a pool party with the old gang, which is technically Frisk’s gang, but it’s not like you’re not on friendly terms with everyone here, more or less. Papyrus and Undyne had a swimming race earlier (Undyne won, though not for the obvious reason; the moment he jumped into the pool, Papyrus sank straight to the bottom, which has not at all stopped him from doing laps). Sans is chilling under the umbrella with Asgore holding up big, blocky signs rating your jump--Sans’s score: 9.5; Asgore’s: 10. Still grinning, you wave at them, and Asgore waves back and Sans gives you a thumbs up. Mettaton... well he left already, surrounded by a gaggle of fans, but he also draped himself by the pool for a while to glitter in the sunlight. Meanwhile, Frisk is here with Toriel, and after they finish clapping enthusiastically for you (you wave to them too, immensely cheered), they go back to having a great time splashing around with her in the kiddie pool.

In fact, everyone’s having a great time--except for Flowey, scowling in his pot near the kiddie pool with Frisk and Toriel. An incredibly odd fixture of the group ever since Frisk went back to Mt. Ebott a few weeks ago and came back with _him_ in a flowerpot cradled in their arms, you’ve rarely if ever seen him meaningfully engage with anyone but them and sometimes Papyrus. A couple times, though, you’ve caught Flowey looking at Frisk with something that, for a creature with no SOUL, looked awfully like longing. You haven’t told anyone, but you’re pretty sure you know why. After all...

Mouth pursed, your gaze lingers on those three. Undyne hangs an arm around your shoulders.

“So what’s next?” she cheers. “How about a triple-rocket-swan-dive flip?! I’ll go grab your phone and take a video of every awesome second!”

“Uuuummm, maybe next time,” you reply, thinking of another kind of video. “I think I’m k-kind of all flipped out right now!”

“Fine by me!” Undyne declares, showing not even the slightest hint of disappointment. You know you should know better than to think she would, because she’s already told you how she loves your passion and she doesn’t care that you’re a gross nerd, but... you can never quite shake the paranoia that she’d prefer someone who moved at her own speed. “Hey, how ‘bout you ride on my back while I swim laps?!”

You light up. Undyne’s tight, muscular bod as your personal surfing board?? Negativity swept away for the moment, you gush, “Th-that sounds _fantastic_!”

“THEN LET’S DO IT!!” she roars, grabbing you and effortlessly pulling you out of the water to place you on her back. The next instant, the two of you are zooming through the water, and you laugh with delight, tail wagging as you hold on for dear life.

On the third lap, you notice Frisk watching you. Their expression is unreadable, but their eyes, ruby red, have opened out of their usual squint... Next to them, Flowey stares up at them, something hesitant in his expression. When you meet the human’s stare, they meet it for a few seconds, then look away. Flowey shoots his head away too when they do, looking flustered, and snaps something you can’t hear over Undyne’s ferocious swimming. Frisk smiles, squinting again, and pats him on his petals, and then Undyne hooks a curve and they both disappear behind a curtain of water. You’re left to ponder that look Frisk gave you--or rather, the look _the human_ gave you--and the one Flowey gave them.

After all, Flowey wasn’t the only one who left the Underground with Frisk.

\---

After stressing out about it for a full hour, curled up in your bed in your PJs and surrounded by all your anime figurines for emotional support, you finally send Frisk an instant message asking about how things are going with them and, specifically, Flowey. (You’ve tried to ask after him several times before, but you always chickened out. Tonight’s the night, though! Baby steps.)

‘sgoin ok,’ they respond.

‘ok cool!! im glad things are good lol,’ you respond. You stare at the screen of your phone for a while, balanced as it is on your chest. Then you curse to yourself and make yourself keep typing: ‘so u 2 r getting along?’

‘yah’

If only this were easier. If you’re _wrong_ , you don’t want to just be all, ‘So hey, Frisk, are you maybe cohabiting your body with the spirit of a long-dead human?!’ Even you know how creepy that would come off. And although Frisk saw the truth down at the lab, and you’re nigh certain that’s why they tracked down that little flower and brought him to the surface, you really don’t know how to broach that elephant in the room, let alone make its stay more comfortable.

You just want to help. You’ve noticed enough hints to realize that they’re probably there--the red eyes today were just the latest one--so that’s not the issue (except for when it is, because you’re you and why would you ever trust your own perceptions). It’s not even the videos, which while disturbing made a lot of sense when you let yourself think about the implications. It’s _because_ of that you want to help, because you get it. You want to make them feel like... like it’s okay for them to be here, that they don’t have to hide behind Frisk’s eyes and pretend they don’t exist, even to their own best friend. You wish you knew how. You wish you weren’t terrified of screwing it up, like you screw up everything else.

‘is he ok up here?’ you decide to ask, because asking about Flowey is a lot easier than the alternative. ‘he always seems grouchy..... not that i blame him’

‘hes been thru a lot. its ok. we argued abt it a lot but he did agree to come up w me’

Oho! A fragment of something! ‘he didnt want to at first?? what made him change his mind??’

Frisk sends a shrug emoji. Okay, fair. Not exactly their secret to spill.

All right. All right. You’ve just got to do it, right? Like when you jumped off the high dive. Undyne thought that was _super_ -impressive. You’ve just got to be more like her! You take a deep breath, or two, or five, and then finally message with shaking claws:

‘so............ is he getting along w/ ur friend...............’

The next several seconds are so heart-pounding you suspect you’re at risk for a stroke. Finally:

‘frend?’

You laugh nervously. You know a dodge when you see one. You’re pretty sure this is Frisk trying to play dumb. Unless you’re totally off and assuming completely the wrong thing, which! Knowing you! Is not impossible! But you let yourself just go for it, like Undyne would:

‘u know which friend i mean’

...Okay, maybe not exactly like Undyne would. Still, you think they’ll get what you’re--

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. =)’

You stare at the return message. You’ve never, ever known Frisk to type with capital letters. You’re at a loss, feeling anxious and deeply uncomfortable, when they message again:

‘Good night, Doctor Alphys. =)’

And then they log off.

\---

You’re so lucky to have Undyne in your life. When you text her up, blubbering and unwilling to tell her what’s actually wrong to avoid making trouble for someone who’s right not to trust you anyway, she listens, she reassures you, she invites you over to her place to watch a movie and spend the night, wink wink. All of these things work miracles on your mood (you feel merely shitty rather than like the worst scum in the world), so you pack up an overnight bag and wait for Undyne to pick you up and take you to her place.

Once there, Undyne tells you to pick a movie while she hands you a drink. You already know what you want to watch, and you set it into the DVD player, then plop onto the couch with a satisfying _fwump_ to suck on your soda’s straw. Undyne joins you a minute later with a cup of hot tea and a big bag of greasy, buttery popcorn, then hits the play button on the remote control. The vibrant colors of _Adieu, Mew Mew_ , the _Mew Mew Kissy Cutie_ reboot movie that came out last year on the surface (you’d screamed SO MUCH when you learned about this), come alive. This is approximately your dozenth time watching it, and at least the eighth or ninth time with Undyne, but it’s just as good as the first. Eyes shining with anticipation, you sing along with the opening number, which you know by heart and have since the third time you watched.

Undyne sings along with you, except she’s off-key and she makes up most of the words since she doesn’t know a lick of Japanese, but that’s okay because you’re also kind of off-key and you’re pretty sure your Japanese is shit anyway. The two of you bounce together, rocking back and forth, and pump your fists high in time with Mew Mew’s iconic pose at the end of the number. You and Undyne all but act out the movie together, you each quote its lines so much, and at the end when Mew Mew returns to her friends after (spoiler alert) her fake-out death by saving the day, you’re both in tears.

“It’s SO GOOD!” you wail, clutching hold of Undyne. “It’s everything _Mew Mew 2_ SHOULD have been! She s-sacrifices everything because she loves her f-friends so much, a-after they’ve all spent all movie s-supporting and adoring each other, a-and just when e-everyone’s crying and remember her t-together and you th-think she’s gone for good, she reappears in that c-column of light!” Tearing up again, you quote: “‘As long as our hearts are one, Mew Mew will always return to you!’” And then you bawl, like a little baby, because you’re dying of feels.

“I KNOOOOWWWW!” Undyne wails with you, holding you back just as hard. “I love the moment when the whole airship is blowin’ up around her, and she’s got her magic wand locked against with the bad guy’s sword, and it looks like she’s gonna lose for a minute but then she thinks about her friends and then BAM! A flash of light and that dude is DONE!! It pumps me the hell up!!”

“And then she looks out the window at her friends’s escape pod--”

“--and smiles that gorgeous little smile--”

“--and then we cut over to her friends watching the airship all scared and anxious--”

“AND BOOM!!” Undyne roars in chorus with you, both your arms soaring into the air and sending what remains of the popcorn flying all over her living room. “DAMN! What a punch to the gut!!” she continues, clenching a fist. “I’ve never cried that hard before in my life, ever!!”

You nod furiously and reach out to grab a box of tissues, the fifth one you’ve gone through tonight alone, so you can blow your nose. “Th-thanks for watching it again with me, Undyne,” you say, sniffling. “E-even Sans just falls asleep a few m-minutes in now.”

“Ehhh, that’s pretty normal for that guy,” Undyne replies, waving a hand. “Besides, I love this damn movie!! I wouldn’t miss a chance to watch it with you for the world!”

You brighten up, even as part of you coils in doubt. You know she probably can’t be lying, otherwise why would she have watched it with you for approximately the tenth time now, but since when did emotion and self-loathing ever pay attention to reason. “R-really?”

“Hell yeah!! You’re the part that makes it so much fun!”

You blink, taken aback. “ _Really_?”

“Sure! I mean, it’s a great movie, but even great movies get boring after the first couple times you watch ‘em,” Undyne says, folding her legs up on the couch.

You deflate. “Oh.” You should have known.

“That’s where you come in!! You make it fresh and new every single time!!” Undyne goes on, waving her hands enthusiastically. “That’s why I wanna watch it with YOU! ‘Cuz I love you, you big dumb passionate nerd!!”

“O-oh,” you stammer, feeling yourself redden. You burst into giggles, then push yourself forward to wrap your arms around her. She squeezes you back, pressing kisses onto your scalp. You shiver in delight and kiss her neck back.

“I know you got a lot goin’ on, Alphys,” Undyne goes on, a little more quietly. “And I know I’m kinda dense and I don’t always notice when you’re feelin’ bad. But I love you, dammit! I just want you to feel happy and like you belong here with me!”

You could cry, you’re so happy. You crawl into her lap and cuddle her. “Th-that means a lot to me, Undyne,” you blubber. “Th-thanks. I-I’m sorry I’m s-such a pain to deal with.”

“See, that’s exactly what I mean! I tell you I love you and you say you’re a pain!” Undyne points out. You look up to see her frowning. “I don’t know how to break past that. Depression’s not somethin’ you can just punch into submission, you know?”

You chuckle weakly. “D-don’t I know it.”

“So, you know... You have to be _active_ about it! Show, don’t tell!” she goes on. “Like how you made that special ice cream for me, or you made that ultra-body for Mettaton, or how you made a special puzzle for Papyrus! You’re always _showing_ people that you care about them by _doing_ things for them! So I wanted to show you I care about you by diving headfirst into _Mew Mew_ hell with you!! ’Cuz...” She scratches her head, glancing to one side. “You can’t just _tell_ someone you love ‘em. You have to _act_ like it!” She bares her biggest, toothiest grin at you. “That’s what you taught me, Alphys!!”

You stare up at her. “... _Oh_.”

“Guess I messed it up, huh?” she admits, smile fading. “If I had to explain it to you.”

“Oh, n-no, it’s just--” You have to laugh. “I g-guess I can be pretty d-dense too, huh!!”

“That’s just part of what makes you so damn cute!!” she declares, just before smooching you again.

You return the favor, tail curling up, claws slipping up around her neck. That’s right. She listened to you, she sympathized with you, she invited you over to spend the night and picked you up herself, she gushed over _Adieu, Mew Mew_ every second of the way with you... She really does love you just the way you are, doesn’t she? You feel stupid for not getting it until now, but you know Undyne wouldn’t think of it that way either. She’s right; it really is the depression getting to you again, isn’t it? And you know it’ll keep getting to you, but you also know Undyne will keep reminding you of the good things by showing you she loves you.

When the two of you pull back, breathless, you offer Undyne a smile. “D-did I really teach you that?” you wonder. “A-about, um, being demonstrative?”

“Hell yeah you did!” Undyne replies without hesitation. “Like, if it were just me, I figure it’d be enough to just SAY it! Why would I lie about something like that?!” She sobers. “I don’t get what it’s like to DOUBT that kinda thing. But I DO get that action speaks louder than words.” She grins again. “And no one demonstrates PASSION better than you do!!”

You giggle and smooch her again, just to prove her point to yourself. You never really thought of yourself as someone who acts instead of speaks, but when she puts it like that, it really does make you feel more confident.

Maybe that’s what you need to do.

\---

You trundle through Undyne’s kitchen, opening cupboards and fetching snacks. You can hear Undyne’s gleeful shouts mixing with Flowey’s angry-sounding ones as the tires of _Mario Kart_ squeal and, if you perk your ear-holes carefully, Frisk’s giggles. You smile a little and set up the tray with drinks and plates, then shuffle over to the other room and wait until the current round is over.

“O-okay, snacks are ready!” you announce with a smile. “Here’s tea for you, Undyne, and soda for me, a-and hot chocolate for the kids!”

“I’m not a kid!” Flowey complains loudly while still leaning forward for his mug. You set it down in front of him, and hand Frisk theirs while cautioning them not to burn their tongue. Undyne sucks hers down in one go, and you set your glass to one side while handing out the actual snacks.

“Aw heck yeah! Gourmet chocolate?! You know what’s up, Alphys!” Undyne declares when she gets her bar.

Flowey meanwhile stares at his blankly. Frisk does the same, before blinking up at you. It’s hard to tell if their eyes are brown or red.

“Chocolate?” they ask, head tilted.

You fidget, but you manage to keep smiling anyway. “I-it’s just the thing to make s-someone feel at home, d-don’t you think?”

They stare up at you. Then they tilt their head and smile back.

“Yeah,” they say. “I do think so.”

You beam, then shuffle onto the couch to cuddle up with Undyne, who wraps an arm around you. You wave off a controller, content to watch the others--particularly Flowey, who goes from staring at his chocolate bar to staring at the human sitting next to them, munching contentedly on their chocolate. He catches their eye, and they peer down at him for a moment. Then they hook a finger onto the edge of his pot and tug him an inch closer.

Flowey rears back with a scowl and furrowed eyebrows. The human opens one eye and peers at him, savoring their treat. He stares back; then he sets to work on unwrapping his treat and snapping it into bite-size bits while making a show of grumbling all the way.

Looking back, it’s probably not your place to get too involved in whatever problems these three have with each other. For one, you don’t _really _know what these kids do and don’t know about each other, do you? You just assumed you should butt in, and made it all about you. Maybe that was where you went wrong: they need to sort their issues out between the three of them. Or maybe it’s something else entirely. But, you reflect as you munch on your chocolate and cuddle with Undyne, if you can help make it a little easier, if you can convey they’ve got your support if they want or need it... Yeah. Undyne was right. You smile down at the kids, sitting close to each other. Showing that little bit did more than any awkward words you could have offered.__

__As Undyne and the others start up the next round, she plants a big kiss on your head. You squeal in delight and kiss her back, and for the first time in ages, you feel like your efforts are good enough._ _


End file.
